> I notice that the first thing people suggest is to make things like > udev, hal and sysfs required instead of optional to do something as > simple as burn a CD. > [snip]

All that is required is a proper device node in /dev; is this reallyso much of a burden? This device node can be created staticallyat install time or via udev or any other method. In fact if you're using udev and a device node isn't automatically created for all of your cd burners, you can file a bug report and get it fixed. So in the end all you ever have to teach a user is to pick the device theywant from /dev.